Tag Archives: Dolly Parton

My birthday is around the corner (August 9), and I’ve started getting questions about what I want from my sweet friendies and fam. Since I love putting together wishlists, I figured it was time to share my top ten hoped-for items! Use this list as inspiration and feel free to get crafty. Or reach out to me or Brian if you have questions or other ideas you want to run by one of us! Surprises are also appreciated. . .

1. Since Brian and I Kondo-ed our kitchen, I’ve been one short of my perfect mug collection. This floral option featuring Dolly holding a kitten would perfectly complete my collection, but any unique handmade mug would make me oh-so-happy.

2. Though this Lady Parts Zipper Pouch isn’t currently available, I’m adding it to the list in case any of my crafty pals wants to whip me up something similar. I’ve especially been wanting a simple hip bag or tiny cross-body pouch for carrying my few everyday essentials.

3. Who needs a birthday card when you can have a Gilly card?! (Fun Fact: I can do two impressions—Gilly and Morrisey.)

8. These Voluspa Glass Jar Candles are the best candles that have ever been candled. Brian and I both love them, and we’ve been pretty disappointed with all the different replacement candles we’ve tried since our last one burned down. Nothing compares to you, Voluspa! My favorite scents are Eden & Pear, Santiago Huckleberry, and Goji & Tarocco Orange.

9. I also Kondo-ed my jewelry collection and narrowed my many earrings to a few special pairs that would store beautifully in this classy ceramic egg holder.

Are you ready for our next Dollymoon recap? You look ready! After a couple days in Nashville, it was time to change it up. We headed to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for beautiful mountains, touristy kitsch, and Dollywood! We were staying just outside of Gatlinburg at the Buckhorn Inn.

We had our own little house with two bedrooms, a jacuzzi, and a deck that overlooked the wooded nature trails on the property.

But we didn’t leave Nashville to soak up some nature, though. We left for Dollywood.

Dollywood might have started off as a Silver Dolly City, and it certainly still has the “Craftsman’s Valley” area, but now it has some pretty wild roller coasters including the new Wild Eagle.

Sadly, we missed seeing Dolly (she had visited the weekend before), but we did get to see inside her tour bus (pink and flowers and butterflies everywhere!) and go shopping in “Dolly’s Closet”. Needless to say, Sarah walked away with a pretty snazzy souvenir T-shirt…

After long Dollywood days, nothing beats relaxing in a cabin with some sparking wine.

And the beautiful views from the main Inn. Those are the great Smoky Mountains, folks.

We took a relaxing walk through their nature trail. They even have a labyrinth! Not as thrilling as Dollywood, but still kinda cool.

On our last day we decided to explore Gatlinburg, which is the gateway to the Smoky Mountain National Park. It’s a crazy kitschy tourist town…with a kind of alpine theme.

If you ever go, make sure you take the skylift. It’s a little scary if you don’t like heights, but the views are worth it.

After some nature views, we walked over to the Ole Smoky Moonshine distillery right in downtown and enjoyed some bluegrass music.

…and a moonshine tasting. Many of their flavored moonshines are only available in Gatlinburg, so it was pretty cool to be able to try grape, blackberry, lemon drop, pink lemonade, fruit punch, strawberry, and peach moonshine. If you ever come across a jar of their grape or blackberry flavored moonshine, buy one. At least one.

We were really sad to be leaving the awesome Buckhorn breakfasts, but we had to hit the road for Lousiville! Check back next week for our last recaps of our Dollymoon adventure.